Sunday, September 13, 2009

My father V.P.Raman speaks - from left to right MGR ,Mathiazhagan, Anna , Rajaji and Mu.Karunanidhi

That's Me - next to my dad....Rajaji lends a sympathetic ear to Anna.

In January 1968 - My father, Mr.V.P.Raman , organised a function to mark the 10th Death Anniversary of my grandfather Mr.A.V.Raman. This was a superbly organised , terrific function, I guess any son should be proud of doing this for his Parents. The memorable thing about this fuction was the presence of 4 Chief Ministers of Madras/Tamil Nadu. Present were C.Rajagopalachari -Rajaji , C.N.Annadurai ( Anna) the Chief Minister , Kalaignar Karunanidhi ( the CM after that and Today) and M.G.R ( the CM after Kalaignar). It must be noted that my father had left the Party and Politics at least a decade before - in Paper , for he continued to represent MGR,Kalaignar and even Bhaktavatsalam and Rajaji. There is one Photograph that I have not posted in Picasa or in this Blog - A lovely snap of me, my dad, Anna , kalaignar, MGR and Rajaji - that I have promised to a weekly magazine. Will post that after it has been published ( If). On the dias were also Sri Ananthanarayanan , Chief justice of madras and Sri "Chithra" Narayanaswami.

Just looking at these photographs makes me go back to those times ..... even the venue , Abbotsbury is no more there - however in the audience was Tarapore , who owned the property. I could also recognise Mr.K.Rajaram and Mr.Loganatha Mudaliar.

In fact when my grandfather passed away - My father who at that time was in the DMK Party refused to let any "orthodox" religious rituals be performed. My grandmother it is said went and cried to Rajaji , who in turn spoke to Anna - and Anna is reported to have told my dad , that he must not hurt his mother and yet do as his conscience commanded him to. Kamaraj , the CM then , is also said to have put pressure on my father - My grandmom must have really raised a hue and cry. To my knowledge my father did not budge.....Funnily , he gave me specific instructions that nothing must be done for him when his time came. He told me - "I know , you have faith and belief in all this - dont do anything until you immerse my ashes - after that you are the head of the family , do as you please....I carried out his wishes to the T.....and continue to perform the rituals for him and my grandfather and my great grand father etc every Amavasya as well as the "thithi" - death anniversary as per the South Indian Calendar. Well , faith , is hard to shake....My father stood firm on this much after he left the party - My wife ( ours was not an arranged marriage - but what is commonly called "Love Marriage"), wanted a traditional wedding with the whole works - my father refused to participate in the rituals and sat in the first row, waiting for us to finish with the rituals and then bless us.My mother's brother stood in for him and performed all the rituals. My father was very firm about his beliefs but never prevented others from following their's .He was NOT an atheist - but just against organised religion - especially the "money making" ritualistic part. He often said - I do not need a mediator between me and my God. He did go to Tirupathi , a trip that made him give up his extreme stand on God ( deserves a blog by itself - will post it soon ) and then later even to Puttaparthy.

Thank you all, yes my father was truly wonderful, liberal and totally secular(for one who was anti religion/rituals - secularism is natural). I seem to have saved somebody's day - I do not know how, but am happy.

My comment is almost 2 years after the last one. This picture and the one published by Kumudam magazine are really rare pictures. It is rare to capture 4 such leaders in one frame. It is a memorable photo and a good one to preserve.

The post reeks of atheism- In this period of earth (Kaliyuga) there are bound to be people who do not believe in the rituals established by our great seers (such as sandhyavandanam, tarpanam etc)- They think they are against established social norms and are revolutionaries (to an extent)- Well- the fact is far from truth.The acharyas in the mutts in South India (Sringeri and Kanchi) themselves ask us not to forego these rituals (many of them such as ritual tarpanam have no connotation of materialism I them)- So let us abide by these age old customs.

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Me...

I am an actor in Tamil Films and TV & a management Graduate from XLRI. I have acted in about a 100 Films and over 4000 TV episodes. I am also a Corporate Trainer and use movies as a tool to teach .This experiential type of learning with games,movies etc has worked well with people from all areas and levels of Management. As a Philatelist my interests are Stamps on Cinema and I have a huge collection of Stamps on this subject.I have also been instrumental in the Postal Authorities honouring several doyens of the film industry by bringing out Special Day Covers and in a few cases Postage Stamps as well.I regularly give lectures on Film related subjects and have spoken about Chennai in Cinema, Nagesh , Chandrababu, Kishore Kumar, M.R.Radha to name a few. I have written articles on Famous Film personalities in The Hindu, madras Musings, Satyam Cinema magazine etc.

About Me

I can boldly state that I am South India's only ENTERTRAINER. I use Cinema and my experience of nearly 20 Years in it to conduct Training programs and Lectures in English and TAMIL on Communication , Team Work , Leadership , Personal Growth , Planning etc. These are peppered with anecdotes and stories from the Film Industry. I use Hollywood , Bollywood and Kollywood films depending on the audience.

I also collect Postage Stamps on Cinema and my collection has been awarded a few medals at State and National level comptitions.

I give lectures on film related subjects - I have spoken to a wide variety of people from Judges of the High Court to Lovers of Cinema and Chennai City.

I am married to Padma - (since 1979) and we have two children. My son V.P.Raman is a practicing advocate and is married to Sowmyah , they are blessed with a son - my grandson - Rudra. My daughter Vidyullekha is a succesful actor in Tamil and Telugu films.

I was recently awarded "Distinguished Alumni Award" by my alma mater - XLRI , where I did my MBA - 1978 batch of PGDBM. I have also been awarded the Tamil Nadu State Govt Award for best character award.